Secrets From the Past
by Miss Milly
Summary: Aang returns to the Western Air Temple, but something is off. Between the empty Fire Nation robes, the blue helmet and the mysterious winds, can Aang and his friends discover what secret the remaining Air Temple has been harboring for the last century?
1. Chapter 1

**Yay! This is my first Avatar fic and I'm really psyched! I've had tons of ideas for one but I've just never had the inspiration to actually sit down and type it out. But now I have! Boo-yah! I got the motivation to write it from a video I found on youtube by StarGazer777. I had a vague idea for this scenario but after watching this I really wanted to write it! **

**Note: This is a TEASER trailer so don't get all huffy about "Oh, it's Book 3: FIRE blah yada meh." and moron is usually thrown in there somewhere. In my little ficcy world (and StarGazer777's video trailer-ish world), its Book 3: Air. **

**Another Note: For some reason the html won't show up and Emily's getting frusterated! (Lol! Seinfeld.) So just search Avatar The Last Airbender: Book 3 Teaser Trailer on youtube and you'll find it. I hope, 'cause it's really good. **

**This is just a preview. The actual chapters will be much, _much_ longer and I might post the first one either later tonight or tomorrow after school (depending on how many reviews I get.) So on with the show-er pre-show? Lol. **

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An unnatural wind blew softly through the empty courtyard, blowing a few lonely leaves out of its path. Aang watches one drift by him, twirling helplessly until he reaches out and swiftly grabs it in midair. He opens his hand and looks down as his worst fears were realized. The last Air Temple had been taken down by the Fire Nation. He balls up his fist in anger as he returned it to his side. 

Aang glances over at two of his companions studying a Fire Nation helmet while the other is polishing her fingernails on the fabric of her clothes. Though he can't blame her for her lack of compassion. She has no way of knowing the impact of the sight laid out before him. He sighs and leans against the nearest wall, before sliding to the floor. Beside him he finds another helmet, but this time the whole military uniform is there. Aang was about to get up but he looked over at the empty outfit again. His eyes widened in curiosity. It was empty. Shouldn't there be a skeleton, or at least some bones? What about the bodies of the airbenders, shouldn't there be _their_ skeletons strewn around the Temple somewhere? Aang frowned. Something wasn't right.

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**Hmm. Intriguing. Tell me what you think!**

**Oh, and it's the Western Temple that they havn't been to right? **

**'Cause they went to the Southern one in the second Water Episode, the Northern one in the 17th(ish) Water Episode and the Guru was at the Eastern one, right? I think that's it, but I'm not postive. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, it was only a preview so I guess I really shouldn't have expected any reviews, right?**

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Aang stood up. "Guys…" He called over to the others quietly. Sokka picked up the Fire Nation helmet and walked over with Katara and Toph. 

"What is it Aang?" Katara asked tentatively. He pointed to the uniform.

"Look."

"Really Aang, what did you expect?" Sokka offered. "I mean, they've taken out all the others, why did you think this one would be any different?"

"It's just…" He started. "Never mind. It's probably nothing." Sokka shrugged and set the helmet down beside the outfit. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew ferociously around the courtyard. Sokka shivered and walked over to their packs to grab a blanket to wrap around him. Toph followed him.

Katara placed her hand on Aang's shoulder in support. Aang looked away and watched as Momo climb into the fallen helmet and start play with it until it started rolling away. He screeched and desperately tried to climb out. The helmet clanged into the opposite wall and landed not so gracefully in a small puddle. Momo let out a squawk and bounced back over to Aang and Katara. Katara smile softly at the small lemur, but Aang frowned. He picked him up and turned over his tiny paws, which were covered in red paint. He walked over to the puddle with the helmet.

"Aang?" Katara followed him.

He bent down and ran his finger along the smooth metal of the helmet and then looked at it. It was covered in paint just like Momo's. "Katara, look at this." He motioned for her to bend down beside him. He dunked the helmet back into the puddle and washed it off. It was blue.

"This doesn't make any sense…" Katara mumbled as she reached out and touched the helmet for herself.

"What is it?" Toph asked from behind them.

"There's a Fire Nation helmet, but it's not. It's, well, blue." She tried to explain.

"It's as if someone placed it here on purpose, to throw us off." Aang concluded as he picked up the helmet again and brought it over the uniform. "Look, no bones! Someone's trying to set us up!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"But why is the helmet _blue?_" Sokka asked as he walked over wrapped tightly in a blanket.

Aang frowned again. "I don't know. Maybe…um, well, maybe its an Airbender helmet?" He suggested hopefully.

"Let me see." Sokka grabbed the helmet from Aang's hand, dropped immediately. "Eeew!" He cried and tried to shake the paint off his hands.

"Sokka! Stop it!" Katara said and held his wrists still. "Wait a second…" She stared at his hands. "This doesn't make any sense."

Aang gasped quietly. "So it really _is _a Fire Nation helmet?"

Sokka looked down at his own hand gave a small shriek in surprise. They were dripping blue. Aang looked around the empty circular courtyard, trying to look for another clue as to what was going on.

"Well, well, well. I see someone's finally seen through our little setup." A smooth voice droned from above them.

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**Well, I hope someone decides to review this time! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you Jade Moon101 for reviewing! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story so far! **

**Here's the next bit:

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Aang's head shot upwards and looked around wildly. There was no one else but him, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Momo and Appa.

"I'm going up to get a better look." He declared as he unfurled his glider and jumped up into the wind. Sokka and Katara watched as he drifted higher and higher, his eyes scanning the temple carefully. Suddenly, a body jumped out at him from nowhere with a loud cry. Aang swerved sharply to avoid them, but lost his balance and his grip on the glider. He waved his hands around in panic as he began to fall off of the cliff where the temple was built. He let out a cry in surprise before he remembered he was an airbender. He blushed to himself and sheepishly slowed his fall and landed gracefully on the ground below him.

He looked around and realized he had landed halfway down one of the mountains that surrounded him.

"Hello?" He called out tentatively; hoping one of his friends would hear him.

"Oof!" Aang heard from behind him. He spun around and found himself greeted by a round, pleasant face of man who's abdomen seemed to be protruding from the rock of the mountain. Aang stepped back immediately.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else." The man said casually.

"Um, hello?" Aang said uncertainly.

"I don't believe we've met. I am Yao. You aren't from around here, are you?" Yao said as he bowed slightly.

Aang bowed back. "Um, no I'm not." He replied and the man smiled back. "Do you need any help out of the rock?" Aang asked observing Yao's condition.

"I'd be most grateful." He smiled. Aang took an earthbending stance and opened the hole wider so Yao could shimmy out.

"Thank you." He said as he stood up. Aang's eyes widened at his size. He was at least three times taller than Sokka and twice as round. Yao chuckled at his reaction.

"Believe it or not, but I am very light on my feet." He smiled down to Aang.

"So, um, you did you think I was before?" Aang asked trying to make conversation.

"My cousin, Nami. I thought I heard her voice so I came to investigate." He answered happily.

Aang raised his eyebrow. "Through the mountain?"

"No, of course not. That was one of our clan's entrances." Yao eyed him warily. ", But you would know that, because you're part of a mountain clan too, right…Right?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well…" Aang scratched the back of his head. Yao smacked his own head with his hand.

"Nami warned me! She did! She said someday, they'll come back, and kill us all!" He shouted, waving his hands around and his shoulders heaved in a sigh. Suddenly, he raised his head and looked Aang in the eyes.

"I'm sorry."

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**I love Yao's character and I was really looking forward to writing him! He's kind of like a cross between Iroh and the big guy from Mulan (I haven't seen that movie in years, but he and Mushu were my favourites!)**

**Don't forget to review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for reviewing! Yeah, I sort of got the name Yao from Mulan, but there's something else too. I'll explain later XD Enjoy this next chapter!

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Sokka, Katara and Toph waited anxiously back in the Air Temple courtyard. They'd seen a shadow jump at Aang from out of nowhere, then disappear as quickly as it came.

"Can't we just wake up Appa?" Toph asked as she tapped her foot.

Katara shook her head. "Remember what happened last time?" They were camped in a thick forest in the Fire Nation and Appa had been flying for days without resting. When they heard someone coming, Sokka tried to get the bison awake to hide him, but ended up having his face smashed into the nearest tree by a large tail. It turned out only to be Aang coming back with fire wood, but the group tried to go easier on the bison from then on. With this exception of flying to the Western air temple, so Appa was napping in the middle of the courtyard.

Sokka placed his hands on either side of his mouth. "Aang!" He shrieked loudly into the sky. He waited a few seconds for his response. "Well, I tried. Anyone else got an idea?" He asked turning to his companions. They both shook their heads.

"I guess we're just going to have to wait." Katara said quietly. So they did.

The sky began to darken as they sat leaning against the sleeping Appa for what seemed like forever. In reality it was only an hour, but it seemed like it was much longer. Katara was starting to doze off and Sokka had already fallen asleep, snoring loudly. But Toph was still wide-awake. She had trouble allowing herself to sleep this high up in these foreign mountains. She had and odd feeling about this place. There was something…special. It may have just been the old temple, or the even older mountains but there was something. Like a secret.

So Toph stayed awake. Both her feet were flat on the ground and she closed her eyes to listen. She concentrated on the wind swirling around her, silently willing it to share the secrets of the secluded world around her. But all she heard was the wind. It teased her with small snippets of sounds, carried from miles away but never with the truth of

Suddenly she was snapped back into reality when she felt the vibrations of a person at the one of the entrances to the courtyard. At first she thought it was Aang, the footsteps were light and soft. She was about to call out but she thought better of it. These footsteps were different and unfamiliar to her trained earthbending feet. Instead, she pretended to sleep. The person quickly made there way over to the sleeping group and Toph could feel them inspecting them one by one. Katara was at the end snoring softly. Next was Sokka who was also snoring, but at a much louder volume. Toph felt the person look over her friends curiously. They took a step towards her. Toph was ready.

As soon as they took another step, Toph moved her foot slightly causing a rock to go flying at the mysterious person. She quickly stood up, ready to fight. But her opponent just…disappeared.

"Where did you go?" She shouted into the darkness. She concentrated on the earth beneath her feet but she only felt Katara and Sokka stirring beside Appa.

"Whaz goin n'on?" Sokka sat up drowsily.

"There's someone here!" Toph explained, desperately feeling for her evasive foe.

"Toph," Katara stood up, "There's no one here. It's just us."

Toph furrowed her brows. Maybe it was just her imagination. She was tired, she'd had a long day. They all had.

"I guess your right…" She said faintly. She could've sworn there was someone. Toph was about to flop back down beside Appa when vibrations from the earth reached her toes. "Over there!" She cried and pointed into the shadows. Immediately Sokka and Katara took off in that direction leaving Toph standing there pointing. She lowered her hands. She was okay with staying back. She wasn't a fan of running, it didn't give her a chance to sense her surroundings. It only gave her a short glimpse with every step but need to know what was around her. She couldn't react with only a glimpse.

Brother and sister ran side by side. They were led out of the courtyard and into the temple. They were running through the temple, following a shadow and their footsteps.

"Stop!" Katara called in front of her but there was no response.

"Yeah, they're just going to stop because you asked them to." Sokka said sarcastically and rolled his eyes. Unfourtunatly, he rolled them at a very inconvenient moment as there was a rock protruding from the ground in front of him.

"Oof!" He grunted as he fell. Katara stopped for a second and looked back at her brother. The footsteps started to fade into the distance so she kept running after them.

The tunnel opened up into a second courtyard. But this one was different. It wasn't crumbling or falling apart. It was full of plants, flowers and a beautiful pond.

"What is this place?" Katara said to herself quietly.

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**Don't forget to review!**


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